


in a world where i am yours

by kageyeeeaaahma (joontastic)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Iwaizumi Hajime & Oikawa Tooru Friendship, Light Angst, M/M, Medical Conditions, Minor Oikawa Tooru/Ushijima Wakatoshi - Freeform, Rarepair, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:28:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24813064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joontastic/pseuds/kageyeeeaaahma
Summary: It’s a given to assume that everyone has a soulmark. Because almost everyone has one. Some even have two. It starts with the first line of the first character of their name. Every time you’re in the vicinity of your soulmate, small parts of it begin to appear, up until the moment you meet them. Once you’ve met, eye contact and physical, the burning feeling in the place of your soulmark can’t be ignored. They’re like small pen strokes appearing each time, short and with long periods of time in between. In the unfortunate instance in which one’s soulmate dies, their mark turns a deep, wine red. Unfortunately, there are rare cases in which one is born without a soulmate. Meaning the universe decided that they would not have their person to love.Iwaizumi Hajime is one of these people.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Tendou Satori
Comments: 4
Kudos: 86





	in a world where i am yours

**Author's Note:**

> helloooooo rather than finishing my kurodai fic i am back with 4k words made for one of my favourite rarepairs hehe :)

It’s a given to assume that everyone has a soulmark. Because  _ almost _ everyone has one. Some even have two. It starts with the first line of the first character of their name. Every time you’re in the vicinity of your soulmate, small parts of it begin to appear, up until the moment you meet them. Once you’ve met, eye contact and physical, the burning feeling in the place of your soulmark can’t be ignored. They’re like small pen strokes appearing each time, short and with long periods of time in between. In the unfortunate instance in which one’s soulmate dies, their mark turns a deep, wine red. Unfortunately, there are rare cases in which one is born without a soulmate. Meaning the universe decided that they would not have their person to love. 

Iwaizumi Hajime is one of these people. 

He’s ten when he realizes all the kids in his class have soulmarks - or pieces of them, at least. Everyone’s crowded around Ichiro at lunch time; he hears vague snippets of the conversation, words like “soulmate” and “car crash” floating around. 

He decides he’ll ask his mother when he gets home. 

Oikawa is terribly interested in the subject, though. 

“My mom told me that one day, I’m going to find my person and we’ll be the perfect team! They’re a best friend and love of your life all in one!” He says, walking backwards and talking animatedly. 

Hajime frowns at that. “I thought I was your best friend.”

Oikawa’s step falters slowly. “Of course you are, Iwa-chan. I can have more than one best friend. You’ll probably be my favourite anyways. What does yours look like, can I see?”

It’s Hajime’s step that falters this time. Maybe this soulmate stuff is new to him but it’s not news to him that his arms are bare. There are no black marks painting the surface of his skin. Not a single one.

“Maybe another time,” he says instead, tugging on the sleeves of his jacket. “Um, mom said I have to go home early today. I’ll come over to play games tomorrow.”

“Oh,” Oikawa says. “Okay! Maybe I’ll see you in the window tonight!”

Hajime simply nods before walking away to his door, smiling at Oikawa going into his own door. 

-

And so maybe Hajime spends the next five years lying to Oikawa, each time the other asks to see his marks. 

Oikawa’s probably caught on by now, but he doesn’t say anything about it, which Hajime is thankful for. He doesn’t seem all that interested in the subject anymore. He says that he prefers Hajime over anyone the universe could have possibly given him, anyways. 

They never spend too much time talking about it, and Hajime is able to block out most conversations about soulmarks almost all the time. 

That is, until Oikawa is finally the captain of their middle school volleyball club, and he goes to shake hands with the rival school’s captain. It’s no secret that Oikawa isn’t the biggest fan of Ushijima Wakatoshi, so Hajime watches with amusement as Oikawa stomps up to Ushijima before the game to shake his hand. 

His amusement fades away the moment they both pull away like they’ve been electrified. Hajime watches with an unsettling feeling in his stomach. The referee watches them with wide eyes as well.

Oikawa’s the first to break, hissing something and stomping back to their team.

“Um,” Hajime is unsure what to say, especially with his best friend looking like his head is going to explode.

“Nothing, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa huffs. “Not a word about it.”

Hajime nods awkwardly. Never has he felt so awkward standing next to his best friend. Will this change their friendship? Oikawa has a  _ soulmate _ , and not that this is new, but now they know exactly who it is. The person is real, exists, and this is the person Oikawa is destined to be with. 

And Hajime will be left all alone. 

A strong slap to his back rips him out of his thoughts. His head whips to the source, Oikawa staring at him with intense eyes. 

“I know what you’re thinking, and you’re wrong. Get ready,” Oikawa says, straightening up. “We’re going to mop the floor with him.”

-

In the end, it turns out they were the mop, and Oikawa is more upset than ever. They leave the gym with no more than two sentences to the winning team, and more importantly, Ushijima. 

Oikawa had simply rolled his eyes, holding his hand out for Ushijima to hand him his cellphone. He’d pressed buttons probably more aggressively than needed, then handed it back. “I texted myself already so don’t text me first. I’ll text you when I’m ready, but I am not happy about this, Ushijima.” 

Ushijima, ever indifferent, shrugged. “Okay, I’ll wait.”

Oikawa had huffed and stomped away. Hajime stood there awkwardly and nodded to Ushijima, who returned it, then shuffled away. 

-

It takes Oikawa up until their second month of high school to finally contact Ushijima. In the months it took, Hajime was constantly on edge. He didn’t know when he was finally going to lose his best friend. He was also too scared to ask. 

They’re stretching for practice when Oikawa drops it into their conversation casually. He’s practically bent in half, reaching way past his toes. “I texted Ushiwaka last night.”

Hajime doesn’t know if he should be happy for Oikawa or let him know how it really feels. To know that his best friend has found his person and he’ll be left alone, with no one to catch him. 

“That’s good,” he settles with. “Did you agree to meet with him?”

Oikawa shakes his head. “Not until high school is over. I’m not letting this soulmate stuff distract me from what I love most.” He unfolds himself and shuffles over to wrap an arm around Hajime. “Volleyball, and my best friend.”

Hajime kind of wants to cry, if he’s honest. If he didn’t deserve a soulmate, why does he deserve a best friend like Oikawa?

“Thanks,” he manages to choke out. “We should go warm up.”

Oikawa smiles, because he knows Hajime will never be able to verbally express his affection, but he feels it all the same. 

The next week, when they find out that the Interhigh tournament will be in two months, and that they will likely make it to finals, putting them in a position against Ushijima Wakatoshi once again, Oikawa looks directly at Hajime from where he’s standing in the gym and nods. 

Hajime simply nods back. 

-

“At least it wasn’t a mop this time?” Hajime offers, but he knows that nothing can get Oikawa out of his mood now. There’s a difference between getting destroyed by your soulmate in middle school and again in high school. 

“Stupid Ushiwaka, he wants to talk to me near the vending machine,” Oikawa mutters. “Can you come wait nearby? In case he kidnaps or murders me?”

Hajime rolls his eyes. “He is not going to kill you, stupid,” he says, but agrees to go with nonetheless. 

He’s standing a few metres away from where the two are talking when he feels a presence near him.

“Are you making sure Wakatoshi doesn’t kill his soulmate?” The boy beside him says. “Because Wakatoshi seems to think it’s the other way around, that’s why I’m here.”

Hajime nods, not looking at the other boy, but he does catch a glimpse of red hair when he looks down at his feet. 

“I’m Tendou,” the boy says. 

“Iwaizumi,” Hajime replies, still not looking up. 

Tendou seems to realize that Hajime isn’t in the mood to talk, especially not with someone that just destroyed one of their chances to go to nationals. They stand there in silence, one of them fiddling with their sleeves and the other staring at the ground. 

It doesn’t take that long, though, because a few minutes later Oikawa comes stomping back to where Hajime and Tendou are standing. 

“If he pisses me off like that every time we speak I truly will not hesitate to shove a-” Oikawa starts while they’re walking home, but Hajime has half the mind to slap a hand over Oikawa’s mouth before he can finish that sentence. 

“Don’t be so loud!” Hajime scolds him, looking around for any aunties that might have heard him. He sighs in relief when he realizes they’re alone on the road. 

“I’m just saying,” Oikawa scoffs. “Why did it have to be Ushiwaka, of all people? The rudest person on earth?”

Hajime digs his toes into the gravel with every step, the tips of his shoes protesting. “The Universe must have a reason,” he mutters.  _ There has to be a reason I don’t have one, either.  _

“Well whatever it is, it’s stupid.” 

-

They spend the next year working harder than ever, even until Hajime has to start dragging Oikawa out of the gym before he can mess up his knee. “How will you ever beat Ushiwaka if you injure yourself, huh?!” 

Oikawa slides down the lockers in the clubroom, holding his head in his hands. “If the universe was going to give me such a stupid soulmate, couldn’t it have given me at least some genius tendencies like Tobio? Or the strength of Ushiwaka?” 

Hajime just stares at his friend sitting on the floor, head in his hands, knees up against his chest. What could he say about the universe? It’s not like it had anything for him either. He takes a quick peek at his own wrist, on the off-chance that there had been any recent developments from when he last checked. 

Not like he checked every 12 hours, or anything. 

He takes a deep breath, moving over to sit down beside Oikawa, taking shuddering breaths in only to exhale shakily. 

“You know, I think if I had a soulmate, I’d try to understand why the universe grouped me up with them.” He says quietly. 

Oikawa’s breath hitches, then he lifts his head slowly. “Iwa-chan?”

“I know I never say anything, but I’m actually really jealous that you have a soulmate. If I had one too… maybe it would be easier to accept that one day you’re gonna be closer with someone else than with me.” He focuses his eyes on a piece of dirt on the clubroom floor. 

“Maybe because in that case, I’ll have someone to fall back on. My own person, I guess. At least you have someone made for you. Maybe you don’t get along now, but someday you’ll grow to like him. Or at least tolerate him,” Hajime says, his fingers fiddling as he finally speaks the truth. 

“So maybe the earth didn’t give you the strength of Ushiwaka because it gave you something to balance him out,” he says, nudging his best friend’s shoulder. “Maybe it’s your face.” 

“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa grins, nudging Hajime back. “I didn’t know you thought I was handsome!”

“Ushiwaka’s exponentially uglier than you are,” Hajime deadpans. 

Oikawa gasps, slapping Hajime’s arm. They’re both laughing, and Oikawa leans against Hajime. 

“Thanks Iwa-chan,” Oikawa says once they’ve stopped silently laughing, taking another breath. This time, more stable. “I didn’t know that was how you felt. Thank you for telling me.” 

“You needed to know,” Hajime shrugs. “So don’t be an ungrateful brat, Shittykawa.” He gets up, ignoring Oikawa’s whining. He does appreciate his best friend ignoring that he’d admitted his lack of soulmarks, though. 

“I’ll still wait until after high school, though,” Oikawa says finally after they’ve locked up the clubroom. “I can’t let Ushiwaka distract me from destroying him.”

-

During their second Spring High tournament, there’s an odd feeling behind Hajime’s back. He feels eyes burning a hole in the back of his skull, but he never catches the owner. 

“Ushiwaka’s right hand man is always staring at you,” Oikawa mentions while he’s stretching before their finals game. “Do you think you could distract him?” 

Hajime scoffs. “I never see him. And no one’s stupid enough to let themselves get distracted in a finals game.”

While they’re lined up before the match, Hajime catches the eyes of said middle blocker. He can’t tell who’s eyes looked away first, they both evaded their gaze immediately when they were caught. 

They lose again, and the two of them find themselves awkwardly standing on opposite sides of the hallway as they listen to Ushijima and Oikawa bicker once again. 

“We’re destroying him next year,” Oikawa simply says as he comes stomping back to Hajime, taking a quick peek at Tendou who’s moving to grab Ushijima so they too can leave. “Do you ever speak to each other when you’re on guard duty?”

“Why would I do that?” Hajime says immediately. “That’s like fraternizing with the enemy.”

Oikawa shrugs. “I dunno, I was just wondering if that’s why he’s always staring at you.”

Hajime rolls his eyes. “Just focus on destroying your soulmate, please.”

-

Unfortunately, they never get the chance to finally destroy Ushiwaka because Karasuno does the destruction first, ending Hajime and Oikawa’s high school volleyball career. 

It doesn’t help that Ushiwaka says something a little offensive to Oikawa at their final vending machine meeting. 

Hajime is standing a few feet away, with the red middle blocker once again. For the first time, Hajime strikes up the conversation first. 

“I guess this is the last time we’ll be standing here, waiting for a possible homicide, huh?” He says, catching Tendou’s attention. 

“I guess,” Tendou shrugs. “I won’t be playing in university but I’ll still wait after games to keep an eye on them. I doubt this’ll end after high school, huh?” 

“Point taken,” Hajime says, finally looking at Tendou. He feels a sharp pain in his arm, near his wrist. “Shit,” he breathes, lifting it up and examining it. 

“Are you okay?” Tendou asks, an eyebrow raised. “Your soulmark?”

“Don’t have one,” Hajime manages to get out through clenched teeth. “Must have hurt it during the game.” 

Tendou looks surprised, both his red eyebrows shooting up. “Uh, are you sure-”

“Stupid, fucking,  _ worthless pride _ ?!” Tendou is interrupted by Oikawa looking angry as ever. Hajime can practically see the red waves emitting from his body. He can almost ignore the pain in his arm. 

“Iwa-chan, let’s go!” Oikawa almost yells, moving right past his wing spiker. Then he stops short, noticing the way his best friend is holding his arm. “Are you okay?”

“Just- hurts-” Hajime manages to get out. “Home?” 

Oikawa looks at him with concern, then nods, pulling Hajime’s other hand quickly to get them to the team bus immediately. 

-

The pain doesn’t go away, no matter how much ice and pain reliever Hajime, Oikawa, and both of their parents try to use. 

At 2 am, after hours of Hajime complaining about the dull yet burning pain in his arm, Hajime’s parents decide that their best bet is to visit the hospital. 

At 4 am, when the emergency room doctor does an x-ray, somehow looks confused when he enters the room with a nurse. 

“Is it fractured?!” Hajime’s mother says immediately, the same time Oikawa says, “Does it need to be cut off?!” 

With his good arm, Hajime reaches over and smacks the back of Oikawa’s head, hard. 

“Iwa-” 

The doctor clears his throat, and they turn to him expectantly. 

“I don’t know how to explain this, but it’s definitely not fractured,” the doctor starts, and Hajime’s mother sighs loudly in relief. Hajime’s father pats her arm as comfort. “But I do have a, er, question, Iwaizumi.” 

“Shoot,” Hajime says. Anything that will get him out of the hospital soon enough. 

“Have you met your soulmate yet?” 

Three sharp gasps echo through the room, and Hajime rolls his eyes. “Sorry, they’re a little sensitive about  _ my  _ situation,” he says, glaring at his family and Oikawa. “But no, I don’t have a soulmark, doctor. I thought that we had that information in the forms we filled out?” 

The doctor turns to the nurse to confirm, and she nods. “Iwaizumi had no information about his soulmate because he has no soulmark, according to his medical records as well,” she says. 

The doctor huffs. “Well you’re in for a ride for this one.” Everyone looks at him, confused. “I did a skin examination as well in addition to your x-ray, since the symptoms seemed odd to me, and I found some… interesting results.”

He hands Hajime’s mother a copy of the results, and she gasps. 

“What is it?” Oikawa tries to lean over Hajime’s bed to see, but Hajime shoves his face in order to get him back in his seat. 

“Is that…?” 

Hajime looks at the doctor, begging for more information than just his mother’s broken sentences. 

The doctor finally hands him his own copy. On the skin of his arm, in the faintest colour, close enough to his skin, are the characters of someone’s name. 

“No, it’s not,” Hajime says immediately, flinging the paper at Oikawa who scrambles to pick it up. 

“Ooh,” Oikawa says, quite scandalously.

“You know who it is, Tooru?” Hajime’s father says. 

Hajime tries to cover Oikawa’s face but he dodges fast enough. 

“He’s my soulmate’s best friend!” 

Hajime lets his head drop onto the pillow behind him. He blindly reaches out for the paper in Oikawa’s hands and pulls it up to his face, reading it over and over again to make sure it says exactly what he thinks it says. 

But no matter what he does, it’s clearly there:  _ Tendou Satori _ .

“I’m sorry, this is great,” Hajime’s father says. “But why doesn’t it show up on Hajime’s skin?” 

“It may seem that the mark has a rarity. It only happens to one out of 3 million people. The mark is made out of a specific pigment that inks the skin. Like a birthmark, but with much richer colour. Hajime’s condition means that rather than being pigmented with the deep colour that most marks have, it simply graces the skin with its presence without being pigmented. However in a different lighting, such as lights used to develop negative films, the faintest hint of the mark can be seen due to the very, very small amount of pigment in the mark. If it were transparent, which happens to a few in this case, then it would have been impossible to find the mark.”

It’s silent for a moment, with everyone trying to process all the new information. 

Of course, the silence is broken with, “That’s so cool,” from Oikawa, who’s seemingly broken out of his shock from what he’s learned today. 

“Yeah, it is pretty cool,” Hajime says, grinning as well. 

Hajime’s mother smiles widely too, knowing that her son realizes that he will never be alone like he’d convinced himself he’d be. 

-

“ _ Shi _ ratorizawa,” Oikawa mutters quietly from his seat,in time with the Shiratorizawa cheer squad. “Stupid catchy chant. Get out of my head.” He smacks a palm against his forehead.

“You get weirder and weirder every day,” Hajime says from beside him, after looking up from his phone. 

“You’re the one checking his phone every three seconds to see if your LED lights have shipped,” Oikawa says, looking back down at the court below where Ushijima has successfully slammed down another ball. 

Hajime just smiles. He’d ordered LED lights for his room immediately after talking further with the doctor about which lighting would change the pigment of his skin. 

“Red would be the most likely,” the doctor had said. “But I heard about these lights that teenagers in Western countries have that they can change with just the press of a button. Maybe you could get those and play with colour combinations and you’ll find something that will show your mark clearly.” 

Hajime had gone home and immediately bought the lights, grinning the whole time and his father patting his shoulder in support, even handing his credit card over to place the order. 

They watch the game in silence, with the occasional comment on the progress of the game. 

It ends, though, with chibi-chan’s ball going off the hands of Shiratorizawa’s libero and hitting the floor. 

Hajime can see the defeat on Tendou from where he’s sitting, and he doesn’t like the look of it. 

“It’s like I can feel it,” Oikawa says, voicing Hajime’s thoughts. “I can feel the disappointment. Or maybe I just know the feeling.”

Hajime just nods, and watches as the Shiratorizawa players slowly pick themselves up and move through the motions of moving on from a loss. 

-

Oikawa leans against the vending machine, drinking from a bottle he’d just bought while he waits for his soulmate. 

Hajime leans against the wall, the usual spot he and Tendou wait for their best friends. 

“Surprisingly,” Oikawa starts. “I don’t want to rub it in his face. I kind of just wanna… comfort him. Even though he never did that for me.” 

Hajime nods in understanding. This isn’t about revenge anymore. 

They don’t get to say any more because the sound of footsteps gets louder and louder until Ushijima Wakatoshi is standing two steps from Hajime, who tilts his head towards the vending machine. Ushijima nods, moving quickly towards Oikawa. 

Hajime watches them, watches as Ushijima stops short in front of Oikawa. They stare at each other for a moment, before Oikawa smiles softly, finally holding an arm out and Ushijima curls in, collapsing against Oikawa’s chest. 

Oikawa whispers something and kisses the top of Ushijima’s head, and Hajime deems it safe to look away now. They’re nowhere near killing each other now. 

But Hajime might need to kill someone, because he’s pleasantly surprised with the presence of one Tendou Satori standing next to him, witnessing the scene ahead. 

“Fricking  _ shit _ , Tendou!” Hajime says when he jumps. 

“Hi,” Tendou grins when he turns to him. “Is your arm okay now? You’re not wearing a cast or anything?” 

Hajime glares. “No, I just need to-” he reaches back and punches Tendou in the arm, hard. 

“Ow!” Tendou shouts. “What was that for?” 

“You knew, didn’t you?” Hajime said, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“Knew  _ what _ ?” The middle blocker replies, clutching at the spot Hajime had chosen to injure. 

Hajime rolls his eyes. “Don’t act dumb,” he says, grabbing Tendou’s arm and rolling the sleeve up. In deep black pigment, sits exactly what Hajime was looking for:  _ Iwaizumi Hajime. _

“Well that’s not very nice,” Tendou mutters, moving to slide his sleeve back down. “You don’t have to rub it in.”

“Rub what in?” Hajime says, hesitantly letting go of Tendou’s arm. 

“I’ve done my research, okay?” Tendou says, looking away. “I know this is a rare, unrequited mark. I proved the theory right yesterday. If it’s unrequited, I didn’t have to tell you.”

Hajime smiles, taking out his phone and turning on the red light app he downloaded while waiting for the LED lights. He doesn’t say anything, just turns it on and aims it at his wrist. 

Tendou’s eyes widen immaculately, grabbing Hajime’s arm and twisting it back and forth. “What the fuck?!” 

“My mark is actually the rare one,” Hajime says, turning off the light. “It’s there… we just can’t see it in normal light. My skin doesn’t have the pigment normal soulmarks have.” 

“That’s… So it’s not unrequited?” Tendou says, letting Hajime’s arm go. 

“It’s not,” Hajime confirms. “Why didn’t you tell me when we first met? We’ve met enough that surely you’d have some idea.” 

“Wakatoshi and his soulmate are always fighting,” Tendou says, playing with his fingers. “I was scared you’d be the same. I was gonna wait until after high school… but then I thought it was an unrequited mark because I could never see any on your arm. Not even yesterday.” 

“I had to go to the hospital for it,” Hajime explains. “Apparently because my soulmark realized it wasn’t being noticeable, it had to cause me pain.” 

“Oh, that sucks,” Tendou replies. “So, are we going to be like Wakatoshi and Oikawa?” 

Hajime glances over at the other two, who have yet to move from where they were standing, arms still wrapped around each other. “As long as we only end up like that,” he says, wrapping an arm around Tendou’s waist, who smiles widely and hugs Hajime tight. 

Hajime inhales Tendou’s scent in. He doesn’t know how to describe it but oddly enough, the scent is simple. 

It smells like home.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed reading my fic! drop a comment or a kudos, i love feedback! 
> 
> alsooo let me know if there are any pairings you would like to see in this universe, i kind of want to make this a series!


End file.
